William Torrey HarrisWilliam Torrey Harris (1835 - 1909) founded and edited the first philosophical periodical in America: The Journal of Speculative Philosophy. He was a key member of a philosophical society that, during the beginning of the American Civil War, met in St. Louis; it promoted the view that the entire unfolding was part of a universal plan, a working out of an eternal historical dialectic, as theorized by Hegel. Harris held for 17 years the position of the United States Commissionership of Education. He did his best to organize all phases of education on the principles of philosophical pedagogy as espoused by Hegel, Kant, Fichte, Froebel, Pestalozzi and many others of idealist philosophies. He expanded the Bureau of Education, started graphic exhibits of the United States in international expositions, and incorporated the first kindergarten into the American public school system, He was responsible for introducing reindeer into Alaska. This was so that the native whalers and trappers would have another livelihood, before they brought other species to extinction. As editor-in-chief of Webster's, he originated the divided page.
Categories: American people | Philosophers | 1835 births | 1909 deaths |
|
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia article. Browse Wikipedia for more information. |